On December 6, 2023, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Senator
Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced a bill titled the Resilient Communities Act to
support communities in the United States that have been negatively
affected by unfair trade. This legislation would direct antidumping
and countervailing duty revenue collected by U.S. Customs and
Border Protection ("CBP") to a Resilient Communities Fund
kept by the U.S. Department of Commerce ("Commerce"). CBP
regularly collects between $100 million and $300 million in
antidumping and countervailing duty revenue each year. The bill
vests Commerce with discretion to award grants from the fund to
local communities where U.S. producers or workers have suffered
from injurious trade practices.
According to Senator Baldwin, the bill aims to "invest
in the places that are experiencing layoffs or closures because
Chinese companies aren't playing by the rules." Both
senators noted that Americans have lost millions of jobs to unfair
trade over the past three decades. To combat this harm, Commerce
could allocate funds to help U.S. producers to continue
manufacturing and competing against unfair trade. Priority for
grants would be given to domestic producers that are most likely to
increase production and employment within the affected community as
a result of the grant. The bill also allows for funds to support
workforce development, building public infrastructure, improving
access to social resources and services, complying with federal
environmental laws, building affordable housing, and expanding
broadband access.
The bill is supported by the United Steelworkers, the Alliance for
American Manufacturing, and the American Shrimp Processors
Association.
A key characteristic of the Resilient Communities Fund is that it
would be funded by tariff revenue collected by CBP, distinguishing
it from a similar federal program – Trade Adjustment Assistance ("TAA")
– that relied on regular Congressional reauthorization and
refunding. Established in 1962, the TAA Program helped workers
suffering from job losses or reduced wages as a result of import
competition, and offered benefits such as job training, job search
and relocation allowances, income support, and other reemployment
services; it has served more than 5 million American workers since
1974. The TAA Program, however, expired as of July 1, 2022. As a
result of Congress's failure to reauthorize the program,
American workers currently lack access to new benefits and tens of
thousands of prior requests for assistance remain pending.
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